


A Cautionary Tale

by TheEbonHawk



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic
Genre: (brief mention), Blood and Injury, Force Bonds, Gen, Mind Manipulation, Near Death Experiences, Not Canon Compliant, Rescue Missions, attempted suicide, three-shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-01
Updated: 2015-04-01
Packaged: 2018-03-20 14:48:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3654360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheEbonHawk/pseuds/TheEbonHawk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bastila meets Revan for the first time, and it's much harder than she thought it'd be. (Three-Shot) (Complete but subject to editing) (KotOR Mainverse)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Getting Her Off The Ship

Bastila knelt by Revan’s unconscious body and removed the mask, moving it away from the woman’s face and simultaneously reaching a hand under her sleeve to detect a pulse.

That second step was unnecessary, as Bastila could tell she was alive just by listening to the Force, and once the mask was gone, she could see her breathing.

But this was Revan. They had to be sure.

Bastila gasped fearfully when the mask pulled away enough to reveal a pool of blood on the floor, growing from a spring in Revan’s dark hair.

“She’s alive, but she has a bleeding head-wound. I don’t know how severe. Nemo, come help me with her.”

Nemo came to Bastila’s side and knelt, scooping Revan into his arms. Bastila helped him stand up with her and position her head safely.

Bastila kept her worried gaze on Revan as she and the other Jedi fled the bridge and ran back to the hangar for their small mission transport. The ship shuddered and Arianna, the female knight in the lead, gestured for her group to hurry their pace.

“Malak’s going to keep firing on this ship till he sinks it,” she said.

Bastila looked up at her, and they exchanged a worried glance while Uthar and Nemo got the door open. Arianna sighed. “He sure is determined to kill her.”

Bastila frowned and looked back to Revan, who was pale as Hoth except for the steady trickle of blood down her temple and cheek. Then she was pushed into the ship by Arianna and fell into a seat on the side. Uthar pulled a med bed out of the middle of the floor and sat down across from her. Arianna and her former master went to the cockpit to start up the ship.

Nemo laid Revan on the med bed and Bastila sprung up, getting her hands covered in blood as they tried to move strands of black hair away from the cut. Nemo handed her a wet towel from the med bag on the side of the seats and she started cleaning the wound while he rummaged for a bacta pack and bandages.

Together, they patched her up and tied her hair away from her face. Then they took their positions on either side of her and began meditating, attempting to lure her deeper into unconsciousness so she wouldn’t threaten them.

This was their mission; to capture her and safely transport her to the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine, so they could wipe her memory and start over.

It had gone far more easily than Bastila had thought, thanks to Malak incapacitating his master before the fight even really began. Bastila had sparred with Revan for all of a few terrifying minutes, her allies helping when they could, and then suddenly the ship was rocking and Revan was thrown to the ground.

The huge blast that hit her should have killed her; it should have killed all of them, first of all, when the blaster fire hit the windows hard enough to shatter them all and break the airlock, but the windows were fortified. But the blast definitely should have killed Revan, who was right under it, and nearly crushed by the rubble dropped on her head.

Bastila herself was lucky to have escaped the worst of it. Revan wasn’t lucky. She was downright blessed. Or cursed, considering what her life would be from here on out.

“Bastila,” Nemo rebuked. “You aren’t concentrating. Your thoughts are running rampant. You must focus, if we’re to keep her under for the duration of the trip.”

Bastila opened her eyes and frowned. “I can’t concentrate, Master Nemo. There’s too much to think about. Anyway, she’s wounded; she can’t be that hard to subdue if she wakes.”

Nemo sighed, not opening his eyes. “Young one, you still have much to learn about the powers of the dark side. This wayward child is stronger than any of us know, or else she wouldn’t have given us so much trouble.”

Bastila frowned at Nemo and then down at Revan. She didn’t look like a terrorist or the biggest Sith threat in the cosmos. She looked like a pretty, sleeping, middle-aged woman, with soft skin and hair, plain and blank, like she could be anyone; a mother, a warrior, a saint.

But looks, Bastila had been told, could be very deceiving, and a Jedi must trust in the Living Force, which guided all Jedi to know beyond their senses. And with that Force guiding her vision, Bastila saw a warped and blackened soul, filled with the Dark Side. How many people had she killed just in the last few years? More than Bastila could wrap her head around.

Too many.

Which was why they were stopping her.

 

 


	2. Keeping Her Alive

Bastila watched the other Jedi lower Revan onto the medical bed in a facility within the enclave. The former Jedi was still out, thanks in part to Nemo and Bastila, and possibly also her head trauma. Arianna left the Sith’s bedside and walked to where Bastila stood hovering by the door.

“Come on, Bastila. You need rest.” She gently grabbed Bastila’s arm and began to lead her out of the room. Bastila left as much space between her and the door as she could without Arianna needing to forcefully pull her. But before long, she was out of the room, and she quickened her pace and pulled away from Arianna as they moved farther away from the medical room.

Arianna stayed right at Bastila’s side, despite Bastila’s attempt to walk faster than her. “Are you going to be alright, Padawan? You look shaken. And it seems to me that you’re reluctant to leave her. You realise who she is, don’t you?”

Bastila frowned. “Of course I realise, Master Lien. But she was once a Jedi, and I’m sure we all feel compassion for her. It is unavoidable.”

Arianna stopped and took Bastila’s arm again, halting the Padawan. “Yes, it is. But you must control it, Bastila. And you must realise how dangerous she is. If she were able, she would use your compassion against you and leave you for dead.”

Bastila narrowed her eyes. “You distrust me, Master Lien.”

Arianna smiled slightly. “No, I don’t. But the Sith has had an effect on you. All day, you’ve been impulsive, rash, and quicker to speak. And you seem so despondent about our task. I wonder if you don’t have an innappropriate amount of pity for Revan. You heard what she did to Telos, and not that long ago.”

Bastila rubbed the sweaty back of her neck and bit her lip. “I’m just concerned, Master. This move, this decision to take away her memories, it feels...unJedi-like of us. She has no say in this, after all.”

Arianna crossed her arms and sighed wearily. “She deserves no say,” the Twi’lek said, glancing down briefly at her feet. “She killed too many people to warrant a say in what happens to her. And we must do what we must to save lives and prevent further war. Revan will not be harmed, Bastila. It is against our code to commit acts of unnecessary violence.”

Bastila pursed her lips tightly, then opened her mouth, only to close it again. After a long moment, she opened it again and left caution behind. “Isn’t this an act of violence?” she blurted. “Violence against the mind is still violence.”

Lien looked defeated. “Even if that is so, this is necessary. Revan must be prevented from causing further harm, and if possible, we must use her to find the Star Forge and destroy it.”

Bastila felt her face beginning to burn. “Use her? She’s not a droid, and the Jedi don’t approve of slavery. We’re hypocrites, all of us.”

Lien’s eyes seemed to burn. “No one hates this more than I, padawan, but you speak out of turn. I think you need to rest now, and then meditate until you come to terms with this and can once again operate in a respectful manner.”

She began to steer Bastila to the padawans’ dorms again, and the young Jedi didn’t fight.

By the time they got to her door, Bastila had forced herself into a fabricated calm. “I apologize, Master Lien.”

Lien smiled slightly, her eyes and the morose curve in her mouth betraying her actual emotions. “You’ve had a hard day, padawan, and I’m certain the presence of such dark powers is affecting us all. Get some rest, and meditate on it in the morning.”

She sighed. “And if you must be angry, be angry at me. I feel responsible.”

Bastila’s anger crumbled. “Master Lien, no one in the world can control a wayward spirit. Not even her teacher. You should not blame yourself.”

Lien gave Bastila a tiny, grateful grin. “I shouldn’t have told you that, anyway.” She sighed again, pulling herself together this time rather than falling apart. “And I should have watched her more closely, and I shouldn’t have let her spend so much time with Alek, and I shouldn’t have let her go away. But she chose this path. Not us. All of this is on her, Bastila. Remember that.”

Bastilla bit her lip again, but she nodded. “Goodnight, Master Lien.”

Lien nodded and turned to go. “Goodnight, Padawan.”

 

oOo

 

Bastila was still asleep when Lien came to knock on her door the next morning, despite it being past breakfast time. She was exhausted from using so much battle meditation the night before and having so much uncontrollable emotion. When the knocking sound woke her, she realised she had dreamed about her fight with Revan.

Deciding to meditate on that later, she got up and opened the door to see Master Lien looking worried.

“What is it?” Bastila asked, her words a bit more hurried than was proper. “Has she died?”

Arianna shook her head. “No, but she’s resisting, and maybe even waking. You’re needed to help keep her under. I’m not allowed in there, because...Because. Come.”

Bastila flew back into her room to dress and then yanked the door back open, following Lien at a quickened pace to the medical room, where Nemo, Uthar, and Lien’s master, Shale, stood around Revan, who was laying comatose on the table.

But Bastila could feel it; the darkness coming off her in waves, her consciousness fighting the other Jedi in their attempts to enter her mind.

Nemo looked up as Bastila rushed to the table and Arianna hurried out of the room. “I’m sorry, Padawan. I know we said you were done with this mission, but we need you to help us subdue her.”

Uthar shook his head at the sith. “She’s not just fighting for her mind. It’s like she’s trying to die. I don’t understand.”

Bastila looked at the Dark Lord’s face and felt the waves of emotion rolling off of her. “I do,” she murmured hoarsely, almost whispering. She looked back up at the Masters, who stared into her watery eyes with confusion and concern.

Bastila tried to gain composure, but it was like trying to hold onto all of a million grains of sand. “I want to help her.”

Uthar stared at her for a moment, then looked at Nemo, who frowned. “Help her how, padawan?”

Bastila avoided looked at the living corpse, feeling like a traitor. “Calm her. So you can do what you need to do. She’s angry and emotional, and she’s going to tear herself apart and ruin the objective if someone doesn’t calm her down.”

Nemo nodded. “Do what you can, Padawan.”

Bastila pulled a chair up beside the bed and sat down, resting her hands a few inches from Revan’s chest. She closed her eyes and bent her head over the body, as if in prayer, and began breathing in and out slowly, attempting to introduce a sense of calm to Revan’s mind.

Revan’s mind was dark grey and twisted and it screamed at her in rage. And then it whimpered.

Bastila pressed her lips as tightly as possible and began to comfort her enemy.


	3. Having Her In My Head

Master Shale found the girl later, sitting on a bench in the courtyard and meditating somewhat unsuccessfully. Bastila opened her eyes as the master approached and did a seated half-bow. “Master Shale.”

She did not ask about Revan’s progress.

Master Shale glanced around and apparently decided it was safe to talk. “Thank you for your assistance, Padawan. And I’m sorry it took such long hours. But she is calm now, and healing again. The process is almost complete.”

Bastila nodded, keeping her head up and her eyes dry through force of willpower.

Master Shale tilted his head, as if he’d noticed the nonexistent visual clues. “Have you dreamed about her?”

Bastila felt her face grow hot as she nodded. “Once, about our battle on her flagship.”

Shale nodded. “Then that supports my theory. My dear padawan, I’m afraid you may have formed a powerful force bond with Revan.”

Bastila’s heart rate went up. “But...Master Shale, she’s Revan. She’s a powerful, murderous Sith, and I-”

Shale put up a hand to silence her. “Revan was a very influential person; it’s no surprise she’d attract a young padawan like you. But I don’t think it was her intention, either. I think the bond was formed over the time between our near demise on her ship and your attempt to calm her. That’s more or less the way the bonds work; they’re formed through life threatening experiences and heightened emotion.”

Bastila frowned. “So why aren’t we all bonded to her, then?”

Shale smiled slightly. “You’re simply more susceptible, Padawan. That, and you have an overwhelming sense of compassion. She would have sensed that and been drawn to it. Whether out of desire for protection or to take advantage of you, though there’s very little choice involved in these things.”

Bastila slid down the wall slightly.

Master Shale shrugged, as if her concern was misplaced. “There is an upside.”

Bastila looked up quickly. “There is?”

“With this bond, it may be easier to trigger her memories.”

Bastila sighed lightly. “I don’t want her. My intention was to save her, not to carry her around in my head for three years.”

Shale put a hand on her shoulder. “You’ll learn to ignore it over time. It won’t be hard as you think.”

Bastila nodded. “I’m sorry. I know I should be prepared to do what’s necessary, for the good of the Republic.”

Shale nodded. “You’ll be fine, Padawan. You won’t have to see her again for a while, anyway.”


End file.
